Sensitive Idea for NASA: All-Female Space Crew

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, April 17, 1999

Gimmicky, exploitative, risky and dumb were among the adjectives ricocheting through the agency's spaceflight precincts and among some of its critics when word got out last month that NASA was considering such a thing.

On the other hand, once the idea had floated up, it intrigued some highly placed women. And even the most retro chauvinist at the agency could hardly go public ruling out all possibility of a truly "unmanned" shuttle flight. After all, nobody makes a fuss about an all-guy flight.

It's a sensitive subject. Before 1978, NASA's astronaut corps was a decidedly male bastion. The agency is only now approaching lift-off of the first female crew commander, Eileen Collins, on a mission scheduled for July. Of the 144 astronauts, 32 are women, including just two shuttle pilots. Collins is the only one with the top rank of commander.

The idea for what some refer to as the "chick flight" came up innocently, according to NASA officials. "Our focus is on keeping astronauts healthy," said Brian Welch, NASA director of media services. To that end, NASA's chief life scientist, Arnauld E. Nicogossian, whose office is responsible for planning studies of human physiological responses to weightlessness, began pondering whether there were gaps that should be filled with in-flight research on women.

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"This is not to say (Nicogossian) proposed an all-female flight," Welch added. "It might be multiple flights with female research subjects; or it could involve a pilot and commander of either sex with a science crew of five females" as test subjects. "So it could be six of seven or seven of seven, depending on the gender of the pilot and commander."

NASA Administrator Dan Goldin weighed in diplomatically, saying, "The fact that young girls will see an all-women crew, I think, could (be) a huge inspiration and impact on the future of education. But first we establish the science, then we establish the inspiration."

Kathryn Clark, chief scientist for the international space station program, said, "We're a little behind in the data we have on women, because we haven't flown as many women. . . . But basically we want as much data as possible from . . . all the different kinds of people we fly."

The known effects of weightlessness can vary dramatically among individuals, but those variations are apparently unrelated to gender. The researchers' concerns are not only for sojourns in low-earth orbit, but for future long-duration flights to the moon, Mars and even to asteroids.

For now, she said, it appears that "there isn't any scientific reason" that justifies an all-female crew. On the other hand, she added, "I wouldn't want it said that NASA has no intention" of selecting one.